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Remediating Deficits or Increasing Strengths in Autism Spectrum Disorder Research: a Content Analysis

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Abstract

There has been a substantial increase in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research over the last decade. An important advancement in this research has been in the study of well-being in people with ASD. The purpose of the current study was to examine the deficit and strength foci of well-being research in the field. One thousand one hundred and fifty-four articles were randomly selected across five major ASD journals over an 11-year period and were coded for a focus on well-being, perspective (deficits, strengths, or mixed), intervention or non-intervention study, topic area, and methodology. Approximately 37% (n = 431) of articles focused on well-being of people with ASD. Half of these studies had a deficits perspective (50.3%), 11% had a strengths perspective, while the rest were mixed (i.e. both deficits- and strengths-focused). Roughly 41% of well-being articles were intervention studies. Approximately 58% of strengths- and mixed-focused articles included a focus on a strength construct (e.g. positive affect, self-determination). The current study provides a foundation for future strengths-focused work, which is essential to our understanding of well-being and positive functioning. Findings highlight trends with respect to the focus on strengths in ASD research, which may have important implications on positive conceptualizations of ASD and future strengths-focused research and practice.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Priscilla Burnham Riosa

    Present address: Centre for Applied Disability Studies, Brock University, 812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Priscilla Burnham Riosa, Victoria Chan, Andrea Maughan, Victoria Stables, Carly Albaum & Jonathan A. Weiss

Authors
  1. Priscilla Burnham Riosa
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  2. Victoria Chan
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  3. Andrea Maughan
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  4. Victoria Stables
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  5. Carly Albaum
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  6. Jonathan A. Weiss
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Contributions

PBR: designed the study, analysed the data and wrote the paper. VC: collaborated on the study design and coded studies. AM: collaborated on the study design and coded studies. VS: coded studies and updated the database. CA: coded studies. JW: collaborated on the design and writing and editing of the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Priscilla Burnham Riosa.

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Table 1 Strength constructs examined in included well-being studies
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Burnham Riosa, P., Chan, V., Maughan, A. et al. Remediating Deficits or Increasing Strengths in Autism Spectrum Disorder Research: a Content Analysis. Adv Neurodev Disord 1, 113–121 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-017-0027-3

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